NEW YORK - The Columbia wrestling team faced off against the
No. 10 Cornell Big Red Saturday evening at the University Gym and despite
numerous tight matches, Cornell captured a 29-12 victory.

In the best showing of the night for Columbia, Stephen West
posted a thrilling pin in the 174-pound bout. West's challenger, Duke Pickett,
held a 3-1 lead entering the third period, but the momentum would take a
sizable shift in favor of Columbia 30 seconds in. An escape for West and an unsportsmanlike
call on Pickett tied the match, but it would be unnecessary because after the
two grapplers reset, West slammed the off-balance Pickett on his back to the
delight of the home crowd and scored the fall at 6:28. The win closed the
Cornell lead to 16-12 at that point, but the Big Red would take the final three
matches to secure the win.

In the second bout of the night, Matt Bystol picked up three
points for Columbia with a 3-1 decision in the 133-pound bout. Cornell's
Bricker Dixon scored the first point with an escape to start the second period,
but Bystol responded with a takedown. Bystol added his third point with an
escape at the beginning of the third period and would take that score to the
final buzzer.

No. 17 Jake O'Hara scored the third win of the night for
Columbia with a 5-2 decision over Jesse Shanaman in the 157-pound bout.
Shanaman tallied the first point with an escape in the second period, but
O'Hara responded with a takedown. The Columbia senior added another takedown in
the third and tacked on the fifth point with the riding time for the victory,
his 16th of the season.

Alec Mooradian (141 pounds), Ryan Ponte (149 pounds) and
Chris Manna (HWT) all competed well in their respective bouts, going down in
close decisions. Josh Houldsworth, going up against the No. 1-ranked Kyle Dake
int eh 165-pound bout, put together a solid match that challenged the
three-time NCAA Champion, but Cornell's top wrestler was able to notch the fall
at the 6:02 mark.

Columbia will be off until Feb. 15 when they play host to
Princeton at the New York Athletic Club. Match time is set for 7 p.m.